Preserving the Queen Mary

Efforts to Preserve and Restore the Queen Mary

She has rested in Long Beach, California, for more years than she sailed the Atlantic. Once the biggest, fastest and most luxurious ocean liner ever built, the Queen Mary is "an authentic piece of history," says ship's historian Ron Smith, "Not only is she a wonderful example of early twentieth century British industrial and decorative arts, she represents a way of life and a way of travel that no longer exists."

The Queen Mary defined a new standard of ocean travel when she first set sail on May 27, 1936. A contemporary newspaper described even her third-class accommodations as "... spaciousness unique in ocean travel, more luxurious than the first-class in ships built a very few years ago. No one in this ship need ever feel cabined and confined." Shipbuilder and Marine Engine-Builder devoted an entire issue to the new ship, commenting, "the passenger spaces reveal, down to their smallest detail, a fine appreciation for aesthetic fitness."

Cunard Lines calls the Queen Mary's construction "the zenith of passenger ship building." Years of engineering tests by legendary designer Dr. John Brown defined hull shape and propeller design. Inside, architects Arthur J. Davis and Benjamin Morris created a modern design, softening 1930s European sterility with warmer materials, including up to fifty different kinds of rare wood.

Queen Mary crossed the Atlantic 1,001 times between her maiden voyage in 1936 and her final cruise to Long Beach in 1967. She won the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing, and once carried the most people ever on a floating vessel. When airlines began to replace ocean liners for transatlantic travel, many ocean liners suffered a harsh fate. The United States, the ship that finally captured the Blue Riband from the Queen Mary, still rusts in Philadelphia, and the Queen Elizabeth burned and sank in Hong Kong in 1972. In 1966, Queen Mary was saved by urban renewal, purchased by the city of Long Beach in for $3.45 million, to be used as a tourist attraction.

Modifying the Queen Mary was a task as large as the ship herself. In dry dock, workers removed propellers and stabilizers, gutted five boiler rooms and the forward engine room, and closed some one hundred hull openings. Focusing on future use as a museum and hotel, designers removed everything below sea level, including the crew's quarters, replaced second and third class cabins with larger rooms, and removed first class cabins on the sun deck to make room for shops. Their disregard for Queen Mary's historic fabric seems careless, but, "At the time the Queen Mary was sold, preservation was still in its infancy and not very many people were interested in it," says Ron Smith, "It wasn't until the mid-'80s that the public began to appreciate art deco."

Property managers and attractions came and went with alarming regularity into the early 1990s. In December, 1992, the Queen Mary was closed. She had never been profitable, and was once again in danger of being scrapped. After a lengthy public debate, the RMS Foundation took her over in 1993. "We faced one unusual challenge after another," recalls RMS President and CEO Joseph P. Prevratil. "The ship has been closed for several months during an especially rainy California winter. Leaks were plentiful and there were no telephones or office furniture. Slippery moss was flourishing everywhere, and pigeons had roosted in profusion on the outer decks. There were no sheets or pillows for the hotel staterooms and still fewer pots and pans in the giant kitchens."

Despite their mandate "to maintain, preserve and restore the historic Queen Mary," the Foundation's first priority was practical: she had to become financially stable. As hotel operations became profitable, the City of Long Beach extended the lease and the Foundation could focus on their mission. "She's an old ship. The stresses of sea crossings have rattled her bones and the sea environment takes its toll" says Ron Smith. Repairs are constant, and preservation and restoration proceed as funds allow.

The City of Long Beach funds some projects, such as replacing the teak decks. In a six-year project that is still ongoing, 20,125 square feet of deck have been replaced at a cost of $898,000. Engineers devised an ingenious solution to avoid using new teak: they split undamaged two-inch thick teak planks in half and use them to replace damaged ones. Other projects are privately funded, such as the Verandah Grill restoration. Piccadilly Circus floor replacement and royal suite renovation, a project sponsored by Prince Michael of Kent, grandson of Queen Mary.